Oasis Overland Adventure - Part 4: Botswana, Namibia, South Africa

We had said goodbye to some of our group and now left the mighty Victoria Falls behind to head to pastures new in the form of Botswana and then Namibia. These are countries neither of us had been to before but were extremely looking forward to.

Walter & Steve caring for their flock

Our first stop in Botswana was in the Chobe National Park, a place teaming with all sorts of wildlife. We went out on another sunset cruise, this time without the excessive alcohol consumption, but with similar stunning views of the African sun seemingly falling out of the sky. We witnessed elephants and hippos munching in the reeds, crocodiles sunning themselves on the riverbanks, fish eagles carefully surveying the evening buffet before them and a host of other birds and buck gracing the banks. It was an amazing evening and a fitting welcome to Botswana, a country famous for its wildlife.

Elephants munching in the reeds

Another typical African sunset!

We moved on from Chobe to a remote campsite called Elephant Sands. Situated around a watering hole is a bar and restaurant and several fancy lodges. Also for that night was our big yellow truck and our tents. We enjoyed an evening round the fire and witnessed several elephants roaming the campsite at night, including watching one from our tent, munching on the acacia bushes that with their huge thorns had impaled most people's feet at least once on the trip so far. It was incredible watching such a huge wild animal freely moving around just metres from where were snuggled in our sleeping bags, and a real privilege to share their habitat with them for the night.

Our laundry ladened bushcamp in Elephant Sands

Our next stopping point was the world famous Okavango Delta, where the Okavango River flows inland and spreads out instead of flowing out to sea. The result is a 15,000 sqkm area of land that teams with all sorts of life and natural wonder. On arrival we were told a few activites available and when we heard the price of the 45 minute flight over the delta in a 7 seater plane we jumped at the chance. The trip was an amazing experience, being able to view the delta and so many animals from the air instead of out of a car window. 

Searching for lions

We saw scores of elephants, hippos, giraffe, ostrich and wildebeest along with many other antelopes, however there was one clear highlight for all of us. We were cruising along enjoying the scenic views when suddenly our pilot screamed "lions!' and threw the plane into an almost barrel roll turn and flung us back the way we had just been. This was awesome in itself, but what we saw next was breathtaking. How he had spotted it I'll never know, but there on the edge of one of the many swampy lake areas were seven lions tucking into a fresh kill of buffalo. If this wasn't good enough there were also two huge crocodiles clearly visible in the water just the other side of the kill waiting for any opportunity to steal a piece for themselves. We flew over the site three or four times and even the pilot himself was taking photos (and somehow still flying the plane) so we knew we had had a lucky encounter.

A bit blurry, but you can make out what's happening

Returning back to earth we unfortunately left our camera case with all our SD cards in the plane which then 'went missing' when we tried to recover it, but that was just a mild disappointment against the high we had just been on. It served to remind us that we aren't immune to misfortune but we were at least thankful the cards had no photos on and so we still retained all our memories so far.

The following morning we were up early doors, as was the theme of the last leg of our trip, and headed out on an overnight trip in to the delta. We were driven out to the edge of the delta where we all boarded the tradition 'Mokoro' boats used by the local people to navigate the winding waterways for many years. Each Mokoro had two passengers plus the 'poler', the local who maneuvered us through the watery maze. 

Enjoying the peaceful delta waters

It was a lovely and relaxing ride out, brushing past reeds and endless water lilies, looking out for hippos, and with our guide keen to talk about football the journey was made even better for me, although Melissa was unfortunately stuck in the middle of a conversation about how next year most of Africa will be supporting Leicester City.

We set up camp out on a part of the delta and spent the day relaxing at our bush camp and swan in a 'safe' part of the delta. Safe meaning we couldn't see any hippos or crocs! Later in the day a few of us tried our hand at 'driving' the Mokoros which is actually incredibly difficult, especially when there are no real straight flats of water to practice on for fear of ending up as a crocodiles lunch! My guide was keen on giving me an extended lesson as it seemed as we did several trips around the twisty and turny waterway but I wasn't filling neither him or myself with any confidence when we did finally finish. It was good fun though and a treat to get to experience how the local people get about. It's safe to say that a polar isn't a sensible career choice for me in the future...

This guy was lurking in the grass at one of our pee stops!

At dusk we went on a walking safari where we saw herds of zebra, a few giraffe and also an elephant blissfully unaware of us gawking at him from just 50 metres away. We returned to have a memorable soup cooked by some of the team, memorable for the amount of time it took them to prepare, but tasty none the less!

Our sunset walking safari

The following morning we were 'mokoro'd' back to the drop off point, made eventful by our polar very nearly falling in to the delta and Melissa having to retrieve his pole for him. Fortunately we didn't upset any hippos and we returned content to our campsite to be greeted by breakfast of pancakes and porridge by our amazing driver Walter and our fantastic new tour lead Steve. 

Steve on one of his many firewood collections

I say new because we had a change of tour leader after Victoria Falls. Unfortunately as a group we had not got on overly well with our previous one who had at times had an attitude that was not fulfilling what we expected from our tour leader and who at points had caused serious offense to individuals in the group. However with this out of the way and our new man Steve, who is a true overlander in every sense of the word, in place we were all set to get the most out of the rest of our trip. 



Moving into Namibia we were full of anticipation, having heard only positive things about it from everyone we've spoken to who has been there. For a country with a population of only about 2 million people but a land size approximately 3.5 times bigger than the entire UK it is no surprise we went days barely seeing another human being or any civilization.

We crossed paths with the Oasis TransAfrica expedition in Etosha

Simply put, Namibia is absolutely stunning and a must visit. As long as you can deal with some long drives and rough roads then you are in for a treat. Our time there was a real highlight of the trip.

Our artistic photo attempt

We first visited the Etosha National Park and after a long game drive in our not so conspicuous huge yellow truck we settled at a campsite facility within the park itself and prepared for an exciting night at the floodlit watering hole. We were amazed to see a female lion creep silently out of the bushes to have a quick drink before disappearing in to the night again. Later on we witnessed two huge rhinos having a shouting match at each other over who got to have a drink which then led to several charges from the slightly more aggressive one. Better still we were amazed to see a herd of 13 elephants ranging in size from a tiny baby to probably the biggest elephant I have ever seen plod again silently out of the bushes, fill their trunks with gallons of water, and then just as they had arrived creep silently away. It was an incredible moment and with shooting stars visible in the night sky behind them one I won't forget.

The elephant herd plus the triumphant Rhino on the left

We left the park the following morning, spotting countless more game on our way out and then drove to a privately run cheetah park. Here we were able to greet and play with three tame cheetahs who have been hand reared since being abandoned by their mothers as babies. It was an odd encounter, sitting in someone's back garden stroking their pet cheetah, but we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

This flip-flop had seen better days

A rather unique group photo

A couple of the group lost part of their flip flops to the rather playful one of the trio but that was nothing in comparison to what these animals could do in the wild. Moving on from here we were then driven around the farm where they have a bunch of 'wild' cheetahs. They are not really completely wild because the are fed by the owners, however they still showed characteristics of wild cheetahs and certainly weren't able to pose for photos with these ones!

As cat lovers this was rather special

We awoke early again with several long days of driving ahead of us, but with stunning scenery to accompany it. We were on the road through deserts and mountains and for two nights running camped in literally the middle of nowhere. It was a cool experience to just set up our tents wherever we felt like and camp under the stars. Steve was in his element, building us good campfires with wood he'd collected on multiple occasions along the way. We enjoyed the remoteness of it all, with no signal, no wifi, just us and the occasional stray bleat of a donkey somewhere in the distance. It was bliss!

We did have time to check out some ancient rock art on the way and also visited the famous Cape Seal colony, a piece of coastline home to 100,000 cape fur seals who voiced their displeasure at us interrupting their sunbathing routine. We made similar comments to them about their foul aroma!

A lazy seal at Cape Cross

We drove on from here to the Spitzkoppe rock formations and enjoyed clambering over the ancient rocks, with some taking opportunities to have photo shoots and others testing their climbing abilities. Rather than camp here we decided on another bushcamp, again miles from anything and this time a bit on the chilly side at night.

Posing at the Spitzkoppe rocks

We then headed to Swakopmund, Namibia's adventure capital. Here we spent a few days enjoying the relaxed atmosphere of the town in between several adrenaline packed activities. First up was a round of go-karting where we pitted ourselves against each other with 5 laps of qualifying followed by a 20 lap grand prix. Some were more pedal to the metal than others, and fortunately Melissa and myself were in different groups so there could be no arguments about who was the better driver! All I'm saying is I had a faster lap time and I was also in one of the slower karts....

Melissa (2nd) looking determined already...

As if one driving afternoon wasn't enough the following day the whole group ventured out onto the famous sand dunes on quad bikes. After a safety talk and a briefing of the rules we were led out in a line, following the person in front, up and down over the seemingly endless piles of sand. Quickly myself and a few others became a bit frustrated and so gradually slightly stretched the rules meaning we basically decided to drive like madmen doing what we felt like. This turned out to be much more fun, especially for Tim the German who seemed incessant on setting his own tracks in every single dune. After an official warning, which for some reason was aimed individually at me, our antics, bar Tim, calmed down a bit and we returned back to base, having had overall a very fun time.

Tearing around in the sand

The following day was one of the highlights of not just the trip but probably my 26 years so far. Having seen skydiving advertised in our trip information we had briefly considered it but decided the price listed was probably too expensive and we should also probably leave some stuff to do in the future. However when we arrived and found out the price was just 100 pounds we decided we should just go ahead with it and promptly signed ourselves up.

Melissa was slightly apprehensive at the prospect of throwing herself out of a plane 10,000ft up in the air where as I could not wait to give it a go. After a 10 minute briefing we were suited up and within minutes found ourselves cruising over the desert taking in some amazing views and getting strapped to our tandem instructors. After 15 minutes flying we were at jump height and before we knew it Melissa was lined up at the plane door, head tilted back and seconds later vanished before my eyes. It is unreal how fast it all happens as before I had taken it all in I was hanging out of the plane ready for my turn.


3...2...1...Drop! Down we fell, with my instructor, who has over 9,000 jumps to his name, expertly manourvering us into a nice freefalling position. It was an amazing rush, looking out over the desert and the sea, looking across into the clouds and looking up at the plane where we had just been, which now looked like a tiny white dot.

As you can see, I very much enjoyed myself

We freefell for 35 seconds which felt like forever and then with a pull of the cord we were flung up into a seated position and glided gracefully around from 5,000ft high down to the ground. It was such a thrill and one I can't really explain, but because you are SO high you're brain can't really process it properly meaning you don't really feel scared of the distance. The only issue I had was the slight tightness of the harness around certain parts of my body, but that aside it is something I would definitely do again and again.

Coming in to land

We started our journey south towards South Africa and made stops along the way at Dune 45, basically a huge sand dune, which we walked/crawled up, enjoyed some spectacular views from, and then ran down rather fast and out of control. We also visited Fish River Canyon, which is Africa's largest. It is over 160km long, 27km wide and in places 550m deep. We spent some time taking in the shear vastness of this huge rip in the earths surface and then headed on our way to our last campsite of the trip.

Running (falling) down Dune 45

Taking in the incredible views of the canyon

We were understandably feeling mixed emotions as we set up our tent for the last time. Excitement at the prospect of having proper beds to sleep in from hereon in but also a tinge of sadness that we were saying goodbye to our bedroom for the last 70 days! The group spent time thoroughly cleaning the truck which in places appeared to have more sand in than the desert we had spent a week driving through and then we tried to cram all our stuff into our rucksacks and realised how many things we had accumulated during the trip!


The following morning we headed to the South African border with a slight nervousness. We had heard that as UK residents we wouldn't be allowed another 90 day stay in SA unless we had returned to the UK since our last visit. As we had not done this since leaving in January we were worried we may be refused entry and left rather stranded. However there were thankfully no issues, meaning we're still unsure on how much truth there is to this ruling, and we then 'enjoyed' the 750km drive to Stellenbosch.


Stellenbosch was familiar ground for us, although we found it a bit on the chilly side than when we had been here in October. Several of our group went off on a tour of some of the wineries and returned later in the day having clearly enjoyed themselves. Remarkably they met a young couple from Tonbridge on their tour. We took time to enjoy the streets of Stellenbosch a bit more before going out for a nice meal as a group in the evening. 

With our time on the tour coming to an end we headed to Cape Town, the end point of our 75 day adventure. A few of us had clubbed in together and rented a nice house in Camps Bay as a bit of a treat after so long on the road. It was certainly worth it as we enjoyed the rather luxurious space and invited everybody round for a farewell BBQ. 

Our group with Table Mountain in the distance

It was a fitting end to the trip which has seen us travel through 11 countries, cover thousands of kilometres, encounter people of all different cultures and lifestyles but also make fantastic friends along the way. We are so thankful for the friendships we have made with our fellow 'Overlanders' and look forward to many reunions in the future. We were sad to say goodbye to them as they gradually left Cape Town, some to continue their travels elsewhere, others returning home with the realisation that jobs need to be returned to or sought after.


We ourselves are putting that bit off for still a while longer as we continue to stay in South Africa for a further two months, a week in Cape Town before flying to Durban to spend more time again with my family. We are incredibly excited at seeing them again, and many people from Mtubatuba where we made friends before. Melissa also has the exciting prospect of sharing her birthday party with Jonno as he turns 6!


For now we'll leave it there, thanks for reading!

Prayer requests:

• We are thankful for all the amazing friendships we have made during our trip and for having such a wonderful group of people to travel with.
• We are grateful that God has been looking over us, keeping us safe during our 75 days on the road.
• We are grateful there were no issues returning to South Africa and now we pray ahead as to how best to use our time here.
• We pray for guidance on our futures as 'coming home' time comes ever closer and we start to contemplate what the next chapter of our lives look like. We particularly pray for God's guidance on where he is leading us and how we can best use the skills, talents and passions that he has blessed both of us with.